money; and that there is not any additional sin, into which that passion may not entice you. Go forth, and ask yourselves from time to time what it shall profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul; and what he shall give in exchange for his soul. With what energy did our Saviour express the dangers of wealth, the temptations which it brings to trust in it, to prize it, and to love it, when he exclaimed; How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God !. A little money may be wealth to you. Think not that you shall not love money because you abound in it. On that very account you may love it the more. Think not that you are secured against the love of it by poverty. You may be as covetous in an humble line of life respecting a cottage, as you would have been in a higher sphere respecting a palace; as grasping for an acre as you would have been for a kingdom. Look to your heart. If your heart be set on money, whether it be on a greater or on a less amount, there is no difference as to principle. You are governed by the love of money, the root of all evil; and involved, with all other covetous men, in the sentence of not having any part in the inheritance of the righteous. Love not the world, neither the

things that are in the world. If you love the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life; you will love money by which they are procured. Aim not at an impossible compromise between the love of money and religion. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Use your worldly wealth; but use it as not abusing it. Beware, lest when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God; and thou say in thine heart, My power, and the might of mine hand, hath gotten me this wealth.

But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. If you are rich, trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy do good, be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate (p). If you have little, do your diligence gladly to give of that little. Remember the widow's mite. But cherish not the vain idea that liberality to the afflicted can make amends for offences against God. The fervent charity which shall cover the multitude of sins, is the love that throws a veil over the infirmities and offences of others; not the bounty (p) Deut. viii. 11—17. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. L 3

which

which presumes to think of making atone ment for iniquity (q). There is no atonement but in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth (r). Be faithful in the unrighteous Mammon. Let that gold, which is so frequently the source and the instrument of iniquity, be so conscientiously employed at all times by you to the glory of God through His beloved Son, that when you shall be summoned to render up your account of your stewardship, you may give it with joy, and receive the true riches (s), the glories of the future world. Hide not the talent in a napkin. Bury it not in the earth. Occupy with it in your Master's service until He But as you value your eternal inte

come.

SERMON IX.

On the SACRIFICE of WORLDLY INTEREST to DUTY.

2 CHRON. XXV. 9.

And Amaziah said to the Man of God; " But "what shall we do for the Hundred Talents, " which I have given to the Army of Israel? And the Man of God answered; "The Lord " is able to give thee much more than this.”

HE who, under the grace of God, would shew himself disentangled from the love of money, is required in that branch of duty, as in every other, to prove his faith by his works. He must be prepared to make sacrifices of money to conscience. Is the man then who sacrifices money, money to a very large amount, and in obedience to the command of God, ascertained to be a servant of God? The history of Amaziah will throw light on the enquiry.

Amaziah succeeded to the kingdom of Judah upon the death of his father Joash. After

1 4

After he had established himself upon the throne, and had destroyed the murderers of his predecessor, he prepared to make war upon the people of Edom, who had revolted. For this purpose he assembled all his forces. But being doubtful whether they were sufficient for the undertaking, and having determined to make the conquest of Edom certain, he hired to his assistance an army of an hundred thousand men of Israel; and paid them in advance one hundred talents of silver. In hiring these Israelites the king acted rashly and presumptuously. For, in the first place, he enquired not of the Lord (a) upon the occasion. He sought not, as upon concerns of importance David and the other religious kings of Judah had constantly sought, those special directions from God, which, under the existing dispensation, a dispensation, into the texture of which miracles were interwoven, were always to be obtained by an immediate reference to the Most High before His altar. And in the next place he knew that the people of Israel had long been open idolaters and that the heaviest calamities had

(4) Judges, xx. 27. 2 Sam, i. 1. v. 19, 23 x. 14. xxi. 30.

།

1 Sam. xxii. 20. xxiii. 2. xxi. 1. 2 Kings, xvi. 15.

4. xxx. 8.

I Chron.

fallen